


Pendragon vs. Holmes

by Humphrey



Series: Pendragon and Holmes [2]
Category: Merlin (TV), Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossover, Established Relationship, M/M, POV Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:47:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1295431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Humphrey/pseuds/Humphrey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur spends an entire week with Merlin’s family. The game is on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pendragon vs. Holmes

“Hmm, Merlin, I think you’ve might have made a mistake with this one?”

“Is that so, Mrs. Hudson?” Merlin asks her distractedly, seemingly more interested in his suitcase than dealing with the fact that his husband is being judged very harshly.

“Yes, dear, much too pretty for a first husband. The point is to start low so you can improve later. Have you ever seen pictures of my first husband? Ugly as a dog he was.”

“Oh, he was hideous,” Merlin agrees with a triumphant grin on his face. It seems like he has finally figured out how to open the fancy suitcase Arthur bought for this trip. A decision he’s regretting more and more.

Then Mrs. Hudson turns to Arthur. “I hope you’re not offended, dear. This is by no means meant as a judgment on you. I’ve just learnt that beautiful, rich men usually have something to hide. That is why I’m asking you now if you have ever been involved in the drug business?”

Arthur honestly has no idea how to respond to that question. Is this the moment to confess that he enjoyed a joint now and then in his student days? Or that time Gwaine brought back some coke to their flat and they ended up naked in a fountain?

In the end he answers diplomatically, “No, can’t say I have.”

Mrs. Hudson still looks rather suspicious but carries on leading the conversation. “My second husband was involved in some minor drug business. Now he was utterly gorgeous, all the other girls fancied him.”

“I demand to see pictures of this gorgeous specimen,” Morgana suddenly says.

Arthur has never liked her more. When she first announced that she was joining them on their trip to properly meet the Holmes family, he hadn’t been very enthusiastic to say the least. But he has to admit that he’d rather spend the weekend with Morgana than Mrs. Hudson.

Morgana continues being a good sister and leads Mrs. Hudson out of their room, saying, “I’d really love to have a tour of the place, Mrs. Hudson. It seems like the Holmes family hasn’t arrived yet.”

Thank god for that, Arthur quietly thinks while he sits down on the enormous bed in their room.

Merlin looks very amused by this entire situation, evil little thing that he is.

“You never warned me about Mrs. Hudson,” he admonishes him. “When clearly she’s the one to look out for instead of your charming brothers.”

“Charming,” Merlin snorts. “I don’t think anyone has ever used ‘charming’ to describe Sherlock. I don’t think even John is  _that_ in love with him. Mrs. Hudson is nice, she’s just a bit curious. I probably should have introduced you to her before the wedding.”

“Actually, I’m a bit curious as well. About this family tradition…”

Merlin cuts him off, “No spoilers.”

“It’s just that I’m starting to get the feeling that I might have to kill someone. Could you at least deny that?”

“Well ... this is awkward.”

Arthur glares at him. People have cried when confronted with the Pendragon glare, Merlin doesn’t seem overly impressed. On the contrary, he seems to view it as an invitation to climb into Arthur’s lap. Not that Arthur minds of course.

“I just want to say, before all the madness starts, that you really are the perfect first husband.”

“First?”

“Yes, first and last,” Merlin adds. “I love you, Arthur, please remember that.”

“I love you too,” Arthur says. He’s never been good at this romance stuff, until he met Merlin. “You know since your brothers haven’t arrived yet, maybe we could take advantage of this huge bed.”

“I told you, John, we need a room at the other side of the house. Newlyweds are notorious for this kind of enthusiasm. Next year this won’t be a problem.”

“Is there a lock on this door?” Arthur whispers.

“Not yet,” Merlin answers. He, sadly, leaves Arthur’s lap and stands up to greet his brother. “Hello, Sherlock. It’s nice to see you, John.”

“Can I conclude that it’s not nice to see me, little brother?”

“I don’t think that’s a conclusion, more like a fact,” Merlin responds. “Has Mycroft arrived yet?”

“The coast is clear,” John happily reports. Then he addresses Arthur and says, “I’m really glad you’re here. There were way too many Holmes men here last year, it was a scary situation.”

“I can imagine,” Arthur says. He really does like John. “But I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you: my sister Morgana insisted on joining us. Now she’s a menace, she makes Sherlock seem like a pleasant fellow.”

John chuckles. “Wow, she must be very impressive.”

“She’s a Pendragon, we’re all a bit impressive,” Arthur replies.

“Is this the time where I point out all your obvious flaws or should I wait until dinner?” Sherlock asks smugly.

“I know things, Sherlock,” Merlin says quite menacingly. “Now please get out, I need to spend some time with my very new husband.”

\-----

“I always knew this would be an eventful weekend but this is exceeding my expectations.”

Merlin shrugs. “Mycroft just likes arriving with a helicopter. It’s not as if your dad doesn’t like his toys.”

“Yes, but he’s never arrived at his own house with a helicopter. Face it, Merlin, your family is much more dramatic than mine.”

“Right, I think it’s time we introduce Morgana to Sherlock. Then we’ll see who has a flair for the dramatic.”

“You must not be very fond of your brother if you insist on setting Morgana on him,” Arthur says. “I’m actually starting to wonder if everyone here is going to survive this week.”

“Remember when you insisted on inviting my family to our wedding?” Merlin asks.

“I was so naive back then,” Arthur reminisces.

“Do you want to stop being so innocent and do it in this broom closet?” Merlin suggests eagerly.

“Merlin, we just cleaned all the closets so I’m afraid I might have to insist on leaving them so,” Mycroft says when he enters the room. With his very dramatic umbrella.

“Oh, hello, Mycroft,” Merlin says. “I take it the revolution is over, that was quick.”

“I got bored,” Mycroft explains. “In fact, I was quite looking forward to our little family tradition.”

“You would,” Merlin says dismissively. “We’ll catch up later, first I need to show my husband another important room in this house. One that hasn’t been cleaned recently.”

\-----

Dinner. It’s very quiet. Dangerously quiet.

It’s Mrs. Hudson who bites the bullet and starts up a conversation. “So tell me, Merlin, how did you meet your husband?”

“It’s a long story,” Merlin tells her. It really is. “But I can tell you that it wasn’t love at first sight for either of us. I thought Arthur was a giant prat and he thought I was an idiot.”

“First impressions are generally correct,” Sherlock says. “It appears this case is no different.”

“I’m not an idiot,” Merlin says calmly.

“So you don’t disagree that I’m a prat,” Arthur teases him.

“I don’t think anyone would disagree with that,” Morgana chimes in. “Actually, I’m much more interested in hearing about the Baxton murder. You solved that one last week, didn’t you?” she asks Sherlock.

“You’ve been reading John’s blog,” he deduces. “Which is mostly fiction, I have to add. I usually solve my cases with my brain, not with weapons.”

“Are you saying that your brain is not your big weapon. Now that’s disappointing, I was thinking we could have some fun,” Morgana says with the traditional Pendragon smirk on her face.

Sherlock smiles, it’s quite frightening.

“You’re right, this is boring. Let’s play a game, that is how I usually get through dinner with Mycroft anyway. If I tell you that there are two people at this table who have slept with the same person, who would you pick?”

“Sherlock, I don’t think this is really dinner conversation,” Mrs. Hudson says.

Morgana clearly disagrees. “Do these two people know that they’ve slept with the same person?”

“They have no idea,” Sherlock says.

“Well, one of them has to be Arthur. He’s the one you’re interested in at the moment. That leaves Merlin and me as suspects. Since you clearly don’t approve of him as your brother-in-law, I’m guessing it’s Merlin.”

Sherlock smiles again, it’s even more terrifying this time. “Does the name Leon Cooper ring a bell? I’m guessing it does since you’ve been seeing him for the last two, no three months.”

Morgana laughs. “Don’t be ridiculous, Arthur has never slept with Leon.”

The whole table suddenly looks at Arthur when she asks, “Have you, Arthur?”

Arthur coughs, he has a sudden urge to jump through the window. “Just the once.”

Morgana isn’t laughing anymore, she looks betrayed. “Why did you never mention this to me?”

“It’s not like you ever told me that you’re dating him,” he points out.

“You’re an arsehole,” Morgana says and then she promptly leaves the table.

Merlin sighs and pats him on the back. “Arthur, you’re such a prat.”

\-----

“I can’t believe that your brother just casually started a war between me and Morgana at dinner,” Arthur says after they’ve escaped to their own room.

“Well, he was bored,” Merlin says as if it explains the entire situation. “And he probably figured out that Morgana is a very useful ally which is why he tried to alienate her from you. But don’t worry, I’m sure your sister isn’t really pissed at you, she dotes on you.”

“Eww, could you please stop talking about my sister that way. Never forget that she is the devil. And when are you going to tell me more about this family tradition anyway? Cause if you don’t, I’ll have to find out on my own.”

“And how exactly are you planning on doing that?”

“People like to tell me things, Merlin. It must be the face, or the body, both are excellent.”

Merlin rolls his eyes at him. “Lack of confidence is certainly not one of your flaws. Listen, dear husband, you’ll figure things out in due time. John had to suffer the same fate as you did and he never complained.”

“Then I guess I’m a lot more curious than John Watson. Maybe I’m the one who should have married the detective.”

Merlin’s face crunches up. “Don’t even joke about it, it’s disgusting.”

“Now you know how it feels.” Arthur stands up. “I think I’ll go have a chat with my sister, clear up the air and all that.”

“Damn, you really are worried about this little family tradition. Or should I say worried about the fact that you might be losing.”

“I’m not planning on losing anything,” Arthur says, brimming with confidence. “I’ve just learnt it’s wise to not let Morgana stew for too long, she comes up with all sorts of plans. It’s how I ended up getting the tattoo on my biceps.”

“I love that tattoo,” Merlin says seductively. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here and let me have another look?”

“Very sure,” Arthur replies quickly, he needs to leave this room before it becomes impossible to do so. “See you later, darling.”

He starts breathing again when he reaches the hallway and then starts searching for Morgana’s room. There’s no need for him to put on his detective hat because he literally runs into her on the stairs.

“Can we have a word?” he asks.

Morgana looks at him like he’s a puddle of mud she needs to walk over but she nods anyway. “Let’s go to my room, shall we?”

It turns out that turning his back on her was not his brightest idea, she gives him a little kick in the legs when they reach her door.

“Ouch, what was that for?” he exclaims.

“For not telling me about shagging my boyfriend of course,” she says in a way that reminds him uncomfortably of their father.

“Yes, I am sorry about that. Although in my defence, I didn’t actually know you were sleeping with him. And you did warn me once to never tell you about my conquests again,” he reminds her.

“I did and you actually listened to me,” she has to admit. “Until you met a certain boy with big ears of course.”

Arthur is ready to defend his husband’s lovely ears when she says, “Did it ever occur to you that people are more likely to confide in someone when they’re comforting them?”

This is why he loves his sister. “You used this to find about their secret family tradition.”

“What else could I have done?” she says with all the innocence she can possibly muster. “Sherlock did practically throw the opportunity in my lap and I can’t help it that Mrs. Hudson loves her sherry.”

“So what is it?”

“Well I can tell you that you’re not going to like it,” she says carefully.

\-----

Morgana wasn’t kidding, he really doesn’t like what she tells him. And the worst part is that he can’t talk about it with Merlin because he’s not supposed to know anything. He’s never lied to Merlin before. Unless you count not telling him that he doesn’t actually like the cakes he keeps baking but Arthur never does.

So now he’s pacing in front of their door, trying to convince himself that it’s not the worst thing in the world to not win something. He only has one more night to convince himself, it hardly seems enough.

It’s only when he opens the door and finds Merlin half naked behind it that he realizes that he can’t really ever lose when he has Merlin to come home to.

Gwaine did warn him that marriage would turn him into a softie.

\-----

There are many things that Arthur Pendragon is good at, unfortunately board games are not counted among them. Though thanks to Morgana, he had time to prepare his gracious loser face.

“The game is on,” Sherlock announces once they’re all gathered in the same room. The Holmes family seems to take their board games very seriously, there’s an entire room dedicated to their competition. They’re divided up in two teams and they need to play nine games each. Mrs. Hudson is the referee.

He really tries to put on a happy face but Merlin seems to pick up his discomfort anyway. “I’m sorry, Arthur, I didn’t realize you hated board games this much.”

“It’s nothing,” Arthur tries to reassure him. “It’s quite silly really. You see when we were kids, dad decided spending time as a family meant having him beat us viciously at board games. Pendragons don’t like to lose, Merlin, not even against a 5 year-old. That’s when I vowed to never play these kind of games again.”

“If you really want to escape, I have my ways. That’s what I used to do when Mycroft and Sherlock came home for their annual competition with mum. They always get caught up in their own genius world. When it was just my mum and me... it was always more fun,” he says wistfully.

Arthur can’t resist giving him a small kiss. “You are without a doubt the smartest person I know.

Merlin shrugs his shoulders. “It’s not like I’m running the country or solving murders or anything. I’m just a social worker.”

“Because you genuinely like to help people, it’s one of my favourite things about you. Although your ears will always rank higher on that list.”

Arthur feels a lot better when Merlin’s eyes twinkle mischievously. “I think I know a way to win this thing.”

\-----

Sherlock scowls and Mycroft leaves the room when Mrs. Hudson announces that Merlin, Arthur and Morgana are the winners of their annual game.

“I can’t believe there’s an actual trophy,” Arthurs says, rather bemused.

“Of course there’s a trophy,” Sherlock says sarcastically. “There’s no point in playing a game if there’s no prize at the end.”

“By which he means: congratulations,” John says, the only one from the competing team who doesn’t seem bothered at all to have lost. “I need to thank you for beating those two,” he says to Arthur. “They were becoming very insufferable.”

“I can imagine,” Arthur says to him. “But don’t thank me, this trophy belongs to Merlin.”

“How did you do it, Merlin?” Sherlock questions him.

“Good fortune I guess,” Merlin says.

“You cheated,” Sherlock says very dramatically. “And I shall prove it.”

“Sherlock, seriously, it’s not like an immature, Ibiza loving guy like me could ever come up with something that devious.”

Sherlock actually looks a bit impressed. “It seems like I’ve underestimated you a bit, little brother. Maybe there’s hope for you after all.”

\-----

Quite unexpectedly, their victory sets the tone for the rest of the week. It leads to the Holmes brothers actually spending some time together. Well in reality it’s Sherlock and Mycroft interrogating Merlin to find out how he cheated, but Arthur figures that counts as family bonding in their world.

He’s drinking tea with Morgana while Sherlock comes up with his latest theory. “You do realize this officially makes our family more boring.”

“You clearly haven’t checked your emails today,” Morgana says ominously. “It looks like I’m shopping for a new bridesmaid dress very soon.”

“We’re getting a new stepmother,” Arthur sighs.

“Not exactly. His name is Percy,” Morgana announces.

“Right, we’re definitely going to follow the pattern and not invite the family Holmes to that wedding either.”

“I can’t guarantee that, I’ve grown rather fond of the Holmes brothers and they might offer some entertainment. It is dad’s fifth wedding after all, everyone knows those are boring.”

“I really doubt it,” Arthur says. “I think you’ll have plenty of entertainment.”


End file.
